Post Ash concert syndrome

Exactly a week after the kickass Ash concert in Singapore, my desk is still littered with Ash CDs and Ash songs are still playing non-stop on my CD player!

Cheers to dmh Dark Lord [Mark] from Ash for linking up my blog on the official Ash website on the Singapore concert reviews page - you have no idea how chuffed I am!!

Mark has collated various reviews on last week's Singapore concert. Good job Mark! LOL. All the reviews were really favourable (notice how they all concluded with the exact same thing? Let's hope we don't have to wait another 10 years for the next Ash concert)

The review in Timeout Singapore is worth noting. Jonathan, the author of that review is clearly really upset that Charlotte is no longer in the band "The band now sorely lacks a focal point onstage (particularly if you’re a heterosexual male), but more importantly their stage set-up looks empty" [WTF?!! My bro is no better than Jonathan, he refused to attend the concert cos Charlotte's gone]

I particularly like the line he wrote about Tim hehe - "Frontman Tim Wheeler, meanwhile, at 31 still betrays the wide-eyed charm of a college freshman who’s unexpectedly won a ‘Battle of the Bands’ contest" And here's another one from the MTV Asia review - "Oh, did we mention that Tim rocked guitars like a dream as well?"

There's also an interview by MTV Asia here - absolutely hilarious!

"MTV: Do you think Charlotte's leaving has affected your music in any way? Like, are there new sounds that reflect Ash as a threesome now etc? Rick: Yeah. It's made it better. [Laughs]"

Let's not forget that Ash were in the first place formed as a trio. Charlotte joined the band in 1997 after the release of 1977. So they now have only a single guitarist and Rick fills in the gap as backing vocalist at live shows (though it seems they have problem playing double guitar songs live at shows now..) Charlotte had only contributed a pretty face, second guitar and a few lyrics *cough* Don't get me wrong, I like Charlotte and I think she rocks but I feel it's really unfair to write off Ash just cos their pretty girl guitarist has left the band.

20081002 Ash live in Singapore

Last Thursday's journey to Fort Canning Park began at Clementi MRT station (is it just a coincidence that Liz and I both like Ash and we're both putting up with our respective relative in Clementi?) We alighted at Dhoby Ghaut MRT station and went inside Park Mall to ask for directions. We were given the following note:

Once we got out from behind Park Mall, right across the road was the entrance to Fort Canning Park.

We found our way to the gig site through the Legends. There we made our base to work on the Ash banner for about almost an hour before spotting that Ash had arrived and were rehearsing on the stage!!

Girls from KL Love Ash

view of the Fort Canning Park concert site from the Legends

We went down to the field, waited for a bit before the guys got offstage and managed to catch them right before they went inside the tent at the side of the stage for an interview. They went back onstage after the interview. It took Rick McMurray and Mark Hamilton about a good hour or so to tune their drumset and bass - meanwhile Tim Wheeler was pacing up and down the stage, and he had his water bottle with him everywhere he went. I bet he must be so dehydrated in the scorching hot and humid afternoon.

At the side of the field were 3 tents (which eventually became the booze and O'Briens Irish sandwich bar later that night) We took refuge there from the blazing afternoon sun and watched the guys from where we were seated in the tent, while working to complete the banner. Ah bliss.. I can't think of a better way to spend my afternoon :)

When Tim finally strapped on his guitar - we moved closer to stage to watch them soundcheck. After tuning his guitar, they played "You Can't Have It All" and they sounded so good even when they're rehearsing!! I was overjoyed when the sound engineer dude at the sound mixing tent told the guys to "PLAY ANOTHER SONG" hehe!! They then sang "Twilight Of The Innocents", "Blacklisted" and "Wildsurf" before wrapping up their 2 hour soundcheck at approx 4PM. OMG they are just TOO COOL and they sound so damn good live, even during rehearsal!! There we were watching Ash rehearsing - it was unbelievable! It's almost like watching my own exclusive private Ash gig haha

The video I recorded during their rehearsal ended up being posted on the Ash official site - whoa!!

Parked right outside the main entrance was an O'Briens van - one of the official sponsor of the gig. I guess they had to find an Irish sponsor for the gig eh?

The opening local band that night was Fishtank and they didn't didn't leave much of an impression on me. They were noisy alright and the fat frontman kept plugging their new album. Tim thanked them at the end of their set, and commented that Fishtank were "great". Did he really think so or was he just being diplomatic LOL

Ash finally came on about 9ish PM and by then the place was so packed I could not see the end of the field when I looked back into the crowd. Ash are so amazing live!! [they were #2 on Q's list of 50 Bands to See Before You Die] They played all my favourite songs - Kungfu (yeah!!), Girl from Mars, A Life Less Ordinary, Angel Interceptor, Oh Yeah, Wildsurf, Jack Names The Planet, Renegade Calvacade, Walking Barefoot, Shining Light, Orpheus, Meltdown, Burn Baby Burn, Goldfinger, Twilight of The Innocents, Blacklisted.. and they played Ichiban, a new song from their upcoming release (due out next year so keep an eye out for that).

Tim: "We're Irish. We don't drink"

It was pure energetic rock and despite not having their second guitarist Charlotte Hatherley around anymore, Tim does a great job on the guitar - my biggest disappointment that night was that Tim hadn't brought his signature V guitar to Singapore :( I absolutely love the way he strums his guitar so furiously as he sings and Rick's power drumming totally blew my socks off. Mark looks dead cool with his bass slung so low. And now that Charlotte's gone, Rick does the backing vocals as well. Very nice! Maybe one of these days he could sing "Stormy Waters" :)

The crowd of Ash fans that night knew the words to all the songs - you can hear everyone singing in unison when Tim sings! He must be so chuffed cos I saw him smiling throughout the gig. He has a such great smile and that Irish accent is really sexy LOL

Till today I can still hear Twilight Of The Innocents playing in my head each morning when I get up =D

Burn Baby Burn!

Click here for more live Ash vids

2 days to ASH concert!

Irish punk-pop trio ASH

48 hours to go..

I'm leaving for SG tomorrow morning and I've yet to finish packing. Can anyone lend me a Star Wars or Transformers tee for the Ash gig? LOL

I'm all set for the Ash concert - I've checked out the directions to Fort Canning and I have my gear in place (sounds like I am off to war :P) and thanks to Liz, I now have "Singapore Song" a.k.a "Seventh Circle" - that was written by Tim in Singapore and recently released as a b-side to "End Of The World"

Get Ready

1977 Ashtoria

Counting down 11 days to the upcoming Ash concert :)

So far there's no indication of what the Singapore setlist will be like, but seeing that the guys are fresh off their London 1977 gigs, I think they may be playing more songs off 1977? Or not?

Not only did the guys played the entire 1977 in the album order live at the Roundhouse and Astoria, they also threw in b-sides from the singles off that album, including "Cantina Band" (ooohhh I really wanna hear that live), "Sneaker" and "Get Ready". I hope they'll play "Get Ready" in Singapore - I have this on the Goldfinger single. It's a cover version of the 60's Motown classic by The Temptations and it's wicked!

I'm also hoping that they'll play another one of their wicked cover version of Ween's "What Deaner Was Talking About" cos they played it years ago at Zouk in Singapore.

Hmm.. I'm wondering if concert merchandise will be available at the Singapore concert? I'd like one of the 1977 tees

i want the white baby tee with the 1977 era Ash logo on the top left corner!

Countdown to Ash concert: 22 days

Counting down 22 days to October 2nd! I can't wait to finally see Ash live at Fort Canning Park. It's been donkey's years since I last attended a real rock concert in an open air fully free standing atmosphere! Gotta make sure I get there early - I wanna get into the mosh pit. Hope I won't get trampled =]

I'm hoping the lads will be singing more songs off their 1977 album since they are coming fresh off their London 1977 shows. I really hope they play "Kung Fu" cos I absolutely love that song to bits. I once sent the song on mp3 to a fren in North Carolina and she commented on how funny "Taiwan" was pronounced as "Thai-when" LOL. Till today I haven't a clue the kung fu movies referred to in the song haha.

Am also hoping to hear Tim sing all my favourite Ash songs live: Girl From Mars, A Lifeless Ordinary, Goldfinger, Oh Yeah, Angel Interceptor, What Deaner Was Talking About, Shining Light, Burn Baby Burn, Jesus Says, Evil Eye, Starcrossed, Renegade Cavalcade and Wildsurf !!

"oh Daniel-san made in Taiwan... c'mon Jackie Chan oh oh oh"

I'm getting my Ash concert ticket this weekend - bro is heading down south for work this Friday so I've asked him to pick up my Ash ticket in Singapore =]